A Week Activities

More A Week Activities!!!

So in honor of A Week, here are a few a-a-a-additional a-a-a-activities we did!

Apple Art

We had lots of fun with this one. 

Supplies: 

An apple

Craft paint

Paper or construction paper

Cut the apple in half and blot the cut side with a paper towel to remove excess moisture. 

 

Dip the cut side of the apple into the paint, then use the apple like a stamp on the paper. Try mixing colors, if you have them available.

 

 

Airplane Races

Supplies:
Paper, 8 1/2 x 11 or Legal

This is is really very simple, but also really an adventure. Make paper airplanes. Race them, or simply see how far they will fly. Maybe practice several times to see what you can do to make them go further. (We found that holding them in different places while throwing them can effect how far they will go.) If I had more energy, I probably would have had the little guy color his paper before or after folding it. In case you need a reminder (like I did) on the folding of the basic paper airplane, a quick photograph tutorial is below.

TIP:  If you happen to have legal sized paper hanging around the house, try making the airplanes out of it.We found they fly even better than the regular 8 1/2 x 11 paper! 

Yay for As!

Children's Book Review: Grandma Lena's Big Ol' Turnip

Grandma Lena's Big Ol' Turnip

written by Denia Lewis Hester 

illustrated by Jackie Urbanovic

published by Albert Whitman Prairie Books

As can be guessed from the title of this book, it is all about Grandma Lena who ends up growing a gigantic turnip in her garden. So big, in fact, she's not able to get the turnip out of the ground.

The Little Guy's Impression
Of the five library books we checked out last week, this was definitely the little guy's favorite.

Mom's Impression
I am always on the lookout for children's books that have a real storyline, and this is certainly one of them. The storyline may be simple, the language used is beautiful, and it is a fun read. (If you're like me, you'll throw in some good character voices, which makes reading out loud to the kiddos that much more fun.)

The Wondrously Weird World of Children's Books

I'm a book lover. Been that way as long as I can remember. In junior high school, my mother had to confiscate my books to get me to do my homework. I want my little ones to gain a love for books, too. Therefore, we try to make it a habit of reading every day for at least 20-30 minutes - usually before bedtime. Thus we frequently explore the wondrous world of children's books.

I have found children's books to be a bit tricky. Here's why. Children's books are a dime a dozen. However, it often feels like finding good children's books can is the cliche needle-in-the-haystack situation. Maybe people think anyone can write a children's book because it doesn't have to be complicated. Who knows.

I try to take my little guy to the library on a regular basis. Weekly is my goal, but... well... we all know how that goes. Anyhow, toting the baby into the library seems to present an extra challenge. As the baby occupies one of my arms, we don't usually have much opportunity to sit down and enjoy the books while in the library. Therefore, our typical library visit includes me trying to keep up with the little guy as he wanders up and down the aisles of children's books, picking out random books without even really looking at them. 

The first visit that went like this produced some interesting results. We ended up taking home a very odd assortment of books, some of which, if I had been more discerning, we would not have checked out. I learned 3 things:

1. There are a lot of really weird children's books out there, many of which I would consider to be a waste of time. (Sorry, just bein' honest.)
2. A lot of children's books don't even have a storyline.
3. I need to allow the little guy to independently pick a few books, but I really need to help him find the better books.

I'll try to keep up posts about some of our favorite "randomly selected" children's books from our library adventures.  

A Week

Teaching my kiddo the alphabet. Some of our silly, home-grown ideas.

This week has been A week. So far, so good. He can recognize the letter A, knows the sound it makes, and we have practiced writing it. This letter might have been a little easier than expected for us because his name starts with an A, so we've been discussing this letter since he started talking.

There are three main portions I have focused on in working with him. First, visually recognizing the letter A. Second, verbally recognizing the sound the letter A makes. And finally, how to write the letter A.

Visual Recognition

Coloring Page

To help keep in his mind what the letter A looks like, I started the week by having him color this page: (I colored one too - seemed to help keep his attention.)

  

Once colored, I taped it to the wall, so we could talk about it throughout the week.


To download a copy of this document, click here.

 

Grocery Letter Game

We also played one of my favorite letter-recognition games. (Favorite because it makes it simple to teach and get my grocery shopping done at the same time.)

When I took my kids out grocery shopping with me this week, I took along with me a bag of the multi-colored flavored miniature marshmallows. (You can use other items, if desired - see below.) Once I got my boys secured into the cart, I gave my little guy a small sandwich bag and told him that while we were in the store it was his job to find as many As as he could find. For every one he found, I would give him a marshmallow to put in his baggie.

As we went up and down the aisles, he intently watched the shelves, searching for As. 

As I quickly learned, the grocery store is an excellent place to work on letters - they are EVERYWHERE. 

I think in the future I probably won't use the miniature marshmallows - they were my first thought as I rushed out the door that day. I think pennies or small jelly beans or something like that would have worked marvelously as well. But next time I might try taking some small dry beans, and then tell my boy that if he can collect 30 or more beans he will get a special prize. I don't know about your kids, but I know my little guy will definitely go for that.

Verbal Recognition

When it comes to working on the sounds, there are a few things I've discovered. First, I have to stay on top of it. I work on highlighting the letter in my everyday speech. So, if I happen to ask him if he wants some apple slices, I try to remember to say "a-a-apple... What letter do you think the word a-a-apple start with?"

We also sing a little song together randomly throughout the days (driving, playing, etc.). It goes something like this:

What sound does an A make?
A, a, a!
What sound does an A make?
A, a, a!

Silly-stupid song, I know. But it seemed to work. In fact, by the end of a few days, HE started singing the song to ME. It was great!

Coloring Activity

I also created a coloring page for him of A words. To download a copy of this document, click here.

Writing

This is an area where I really want to make sure to start him out with proper writing techniques an habits. So, although there are many other creative ideas on working on writing, I will probably always make sure to include real writing on real paper with a real pencil.
 I purchased a learn-to-write tablet much like this one: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mead-Writing-Tablet-Raised-Ruling-Dotted-Lines-8-x10-White/22653841, However, the price listed there was not the in-store price - it was cheaper.

The reason I selected this particular tablet was the raised ruling. It did, in fact, seem to assist my little guy in starting/stopping lines in the proper place.

All I did was take one of the pages, and drew dotted upper and lower case As for my little guy to trace, leaving blank lines for him to draw his own after practicing on my dotted letters. It looked like this:
 
I also made sure to give him a regular, sharpened pencil to use, and made sure he was holding it properly. For me, it's  not just about him forming the letter, but also about starting proper habits.

 He did great. I was very impressed at his first attempts at writing.

Tub Writing

It was a happy coincidence that I learned how much fun writing can become for the little guy when we went to do "tubby time," and he picked up his tub crayons and began forming As on the tub wall. It was great.

These are the ones we have: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Crayola-Bathtub-Crayons/15754363. They work well. We like 'em. (We have purchased other cheaper brands, but they seemed to break much easier, so we'll probably stick with these ones for now.)

TIP:  I learned the hard way that it is wise to wash off the crayon at the end of tub time... It is not a good idea to "just wait til next time." It was much more difficult to remove after it had sat for awhile. It does come off completely, one way or another. A wet wash cloth and little effort will wipe away fresh tub crayon, and medium effort will scrub away dried-on tub crayon. :)

If the tub crayons aren't your favorite option, we have also used these finger paints:  http://www.walmart.com/ip/Bathtub-Fingerpaint-Soaps/14648452. 

TIP: I'd suggest keeping a close eye on the kiddos when using these - and make sure to warn them that they will hurt if they get them in their eyes. My little guy has a thing with rubbing his eyes in the tub... so, again, we learned the hard way with this one. (He does still have perfect vision in both eyes.)
 

Have an A-A-AMAZING time with As!

 

I'd like to introduce myself...

I'm a pretty regular wife and mom.

Two darling boys. One turns four years old in May. The other turns one year old in May.

I'm not crafty. I'm not particularly handy.

But I love my job as housewife. And I adore my boys.

Workin' as hard as I can to raise my little ones with the brightest future possible and not go crazy at the same time.

I'm a traditionalist, and I want so much for my boys to learn hard work, honesty and integrity, compassion, and gentlemanly manners.

I'm guilty of sometimes allowing too much screen time. But it's something I'm working on. Some days I never get make up on my face, and I'm ok with that.

I do not believe myself to be particularly clever, but hope to share my own ideas and begin a good conversation with the world about what's best for my kiddos.